The camp was outside the castle home of the famous Vorsholstein family of Homunculi, artificially created humanoids literally stitched together. Right now, a male Homunculus, Dr. Delselii Vorsholstein, was busy with his machines. He laughed like the licensed Mad Scientist he was as the machines threw lighting at each other and made noises. Bremfo then came down into the lab. “Doctor, I’ve been calling you for chow time for the past minute!” he snarled.
“In a minute! It’s almost done!” replied Delselii. Bremfo was about to protest until he remembered something.
“You mean…THAT project?!”
“Yes, my dear Bremfo, THAT project!” Delselii flicked a few more switches as Bremfo became more excited.
“We’re gonna wipe ‘em out! All of ‘em! To the very last man!”
“We’ll destroy ‘em! We’ll spare no one!” Delselii then threw a massive switch, increasing the lightning.
“They all have to go! Every single Trinny!” Bremfo was clapping his hands in excitement.
“And this engine I’m working on will do just that!” The lighting revealed the outline of a large device being shocked. “Once this baby is installed in any ship, it’ll create a magic shockwave that will cancel the Scorpion’s cloaking abilities!” The engine then shook. “…Er, hold on! It’s not supposed to do that!” The shakes became more violent!
“It’s gonna blow!” warned Bremfo. The two then erected a blast screen as the engine exploded. The shrapnel buried itself into the walls, a fan blade burrowed into Bremfo’s head, and the rest bounced off the blast screen. Once it was quiet enough, Delselii sighed and turned his equipment off.
“Back to the drawing board,” he grumbled as he took his goggles off. Bremfo took the fan blade out of his head. “I don’t understand! The calculations were right! What am I missing?!”
“Let’s think about it over dinner,” suggested Bremfo as he smoothed out his head. Delselii nodded as they ascended the steps. “There’s always the other project.”
“I’m still a little iffy about that. I mean, using my own rough drafts like that?” They reached the top floor and saw an exact duplicate of Delselii eating a chair! “Oh, Rutambo!” admonished Delselii. The duplicate turned his head. “How many times do I have to tell you?! This is a respectable castle and we do NOT eat the furniture!” The duplicate then stood up and lumbered towards Delselii. “Get back in your closet! Back in the closet!” Rutambo swung his arm at Delselii. The scientist rolled out of the way and grabbed a large torch from the fireplace, brandishing it at Rutambo. Rutambo roared in horror from the fire and backed away. “Back! Back!” Rutambo hid himself in the closet and Delselii shut the door. He then heard a noise in the closet. “Stop that pounding!” he ordered. “If you don’t behave, I shall take your brain out and put it in backwards!” The pounding stopped and Delselii put the torch back into the fireplace. “Now, what was that about dinner?”
The next day, Delselii smoothed out his coat and checked his stitches. He then turned to Rutambo’s closet. “You stay quiet while I meet our guests.” He turned back and the door to the study opened, revealing Arsha, Erodeth, and Bremfo. “Your Majesty. Your Highness,” greeted the Mad Scientist.
“Dr. Vorsholstein, I presume?” asked Erodeth.
“Won’t you come in?” offered Delselii as he shook their hands.
“Much obliged, Doctor,” accepted Arsha as they came into the room. “You know, you definitely have parts of your father. He was quite the man. You just don’t find old country doctors anymore. Your family’s quite legendary in keeping that tradition alive.”
“I’m glad the Royana heir approves,” chuckled Delselii. “Everyone, I will come straight to the point; I’m engaged in two projects.”
“I heard about your efforts to cancel the Scorpion’s cloaking device,” said Erodeth.
“Ones know we could definitely use that,” agreed Arsha.
“Unfortunately, I’m hitting too many hiccups on that project,” sighed Delselii. “I’m at a loss, so I need the help of other Mad Scientists, heck, even normal scientists, to help me.”
“There’s no shortage of Mad Scientists among my people,” offered Erodeth. “Take your pick. They’d be happy and honored to help.”
“Thank you,” bid Delselii. “You’re too kind, Your Majesty.” Bremfo grinned at the idea, thankful that his creator has more help on the way.
“What’s the other project?” asked Arsha. Bremfo and Delselii then looked at each other in trepidation.
“It’s…one where I’m iffy about it,” explained Delselii. “I have something in my closet to help the explanation, but I must ask for your secrecy unless you feel it’s a good idea to back it.”
“I hope it’s not TOO risky,” gulped Arsha.
“Your Majesty, Your Highness, prepare yourself.” Delselii then opened the closet door. “Everyone, meet Rutambo!” Rutambo then lumbered out of the closet, grunting all the while.
“Sweet Heights!” swore Erodeth.
“H…who…how?!” spluttered Arsha. “…Are you sure it’s…safe?!”
“I have methods for keeping him under my thumb,” assured Delselii as he took the torch out of the fireplace. “Back! Back!! BACK!!” Rutambo howled and retreated into the closet. Delselii shut the closet again. “…Well,” he sighed, “what do you think?”
“He’s got the same good looks as your parents,” muttered Erodeth, “but not much on small talk.”
“You’re probably wondering how there’s two of him, down to the last stitch,” guessed Bremfo.
“Well, I will admit, the question did cross my mind,” confirmed Arsha. “Faces like his don’t grow on trees.”
“No, but they do grow in the womb multiple times,” answered Delselii. “You see, a pregnancy where the child has Homunculus DNA is a little different to the usual ones. Whenever the woman gives birth to such a child, the baby comes out in pieces of adults and the parents stitch the pieces together. However, the brain never really completes itself on the first try, so whenever it’s shocked into life, the resulting creature is nothing more than an animal that can’t learn on the level of Sentinas or life-forms like us, so the woman is pregnant again with the same pieces and a new brain that’s slightly better until the right brain is put into the creature.”
“I get it, the less-Sentina brained creatures are rough drafts of the child.”
“Exactly, and Rutambo’s a rough draft of me. What’s most remarkable is that the rough drafts only last a few years, living in the wild, but Rutambo’s actually a few years older than me.”
“Where did you find Rutambo?” asked Erodeth.
“That was actually me,” answered Bremfo. “I was doing some gardening last month when I heard a roar in the southern woods on the estate. Imagine my surprise when Rutambo came out from the trees. I thought something happened to Delselii and carried Rutambo to the lab only to find Delselii already there.”
“It was quite the surprise when I saw him,” remarked Delselii. “I have an idea for rough draft Homunculi, but I need a Realmfleeter’s opinion.”
“It sounds like the project,” said Arsha, “involves using them as cannon fodder.”
“Well, I wouldn’t put it like that,” replied Delselii, “but it would help the numbers problem we have.”
“Delselii, I’m not sure I can push such a project. If you’re iffy about it, and accounting for the fact that he wouldn’t understand how to cast spells, much less remember his name, maybe he should be released back into the woods.”
“I can’t say as I condone this project either,” agreed Erodeth. “We need soldiers that are at least Sentina level.”
“I just needed to hear your opinion before I formally terminated the project” sighed Delselii happily. “He tried to return to the woods a lot, so I think he’s more suited to them than inside a building. Thank you for your help on that dilemma, I’ll talk to the Mad Scientists among your people to help with the other one.”
“We better get back,” called Arsha. “My crew is preparing to retake Realmgate City.”
“With the amount of people we have?” asked Erodeth as they left the room. Bremfo shut the door behind them and Delselii released a sigh of relief.
“Well, I guess that’s that for Rutambo, thank goodness,” sighed Bremfo.
“…Maybe a rough draft preserve would be a good idea,” mused Delselii. “I mean, they’re born sterile too, so it would be safe to release all sexes into the wild.”
“I suppose it could work. But there’s still a numbers problem for the war effort. Unless we steal Jansha’s plans and make our own, we’re hosed! And there aren’t many of my breed of Golem yet!”
“And I’m not making any Revenants. I hope Arsha has something up her sleeve.”
Over in the open expanses of the Central Continent, just north of Realmgate City, the Shadow Dragons assembled for someone to give a speech. A young-looking male then slithered up and took his place in front of his people. “I thought Lak-tu was still General,” Dalengor whispered to Dotan. “Who’s that?”
“His son, Ank-tu,” explained Dotan. “Lak-tu’s hibernation egg didn’t survive and neither did his spouse.”
“My people!” called Ank-tu. “I stand before you as my father and mother once did! I promise you; our victory will be assured under my leadership! Glory to Oyed!”
“Glory to Oyed!” repeated the Shadow Dragons, but Dalengor noticed that their hearts weren’t in it for the majority of them.
“…A good start, but I better keep it to myself until I can determine who to trust,” thought Dalengor.